Easy Peasy Soft Sugar Cookies

Decorating sugar cookies was always a fun holiday family tradition growing up. I loved to decorate them. All of my siblings were long gone while I was painstakingly lining up sprinkles in a pattern or something equally time intensive. I just loved to decorate and was pretty serious about it.

Fast forward to now and I'm a busy mom, three kids, my own business there is just not enough time in the day especially to make a pretty sugar cookie.

So one day a few years ago I was making cookies for Halloween and was about to get decorating like I always did with a knife and some sprinkles when I thought there had to be a faster way. So this is what I came up with using my favorite sugar cookie recipe. Combined with the equally tasty frosting and they taste like a better version of those soft sugar cookies you get in the bakery section. SOOOOO good.

So first you start off with the sugar cookie recipe.

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks (salted) butter, cold
1 egg
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling. Divide the dough in 4 sections.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets
and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

 Now it's frosting time.

Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Now it's time to decorate! Of course you can do whatever way works best but these are so fast to decorate you can make up a bunch in no time.


My frosting tips. 


104 - for the brown stem
1 round tip - for vine (I actually forgot to add these, whoops! But you just would do green vines by the leaves, so cute)
67 leaf - for the green leaves
1M - for the orange pumpkin

 With your 1M tip with orange frosting and start on one side top to bottom around the edge.

 Then the other side. Afterwards another time on each side in the middle.

 After that's done you're going to make an oval for the middle starting at the bottom going up and then back to the bottom again.

 Then it's time for the stem, super easy, just two lines with your 104 tip.

 And then your leaf with your 67 leaf tip. I did two leaves but you can do whatever you'd like. You can also add small vines with your 1 tip.

 Then they are ready to go!